Maine State Police continue to investigate missing persons cases

BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER)-- Everyday police are facing more missing persons cases. Here in Maine we have had many that have grabbed the public's attention most recently the disappearance of Ayla Reynolds or the 1986 disappearance of 17-year old Kimberly Moreau. There are, however, some dating back to the 1970's. Events like the one that happened in Cleveland give detectives hope and show that all open cases can still be closed.

Lt. Chris Coleman with the Criminal Investigation Division said, "The fact that they were found does reinforce that we have an important job to do. And the detectives and police throughout the state of Maine take that very seriously."

The Maine State police has more than a dozen missing persons cases still open. These cases remain open until they are solved and each case is assigned a detective along with a criminal investigation division within the area.

Lt. Coleman said, "We always remain optimistic that we can solve these cases and that is what drives us. We always keep somebody on it long enough to be in a position to have the information that is going to be crucial to solving the case. So it's extremely important that we let the public know we don't even throw these files aside there is always someone assigned to them. We are always in a position to know the case file."

The Maine State Police has been able to post some of the older cases on the department's website as a reminder to the public. People are able to provide tips online anonymously.

"In the state of Maine we have dozens of missing persons reports every month, most of those are runaways and very often they are returned safely in a matter of a few days. But we take every missing persons case very seriously. Police officers go out as quickly as possible to investigate the circumstances surrounding the missing persons case," said Lt. Coleman.

Information on some of the state's open cases along with the link to report an anonymous tip can be found on the Maine State Police website.